I decided I was going to finish writing about this book by not writing at all. I liked making the Guess Song’s Name Challenge, but in these final two chapters, 22 and 23, there was not a lot of useful information to include. So instead, I’m closing this series of posts about The Deadline, by Tom De Marco, with a personal reflection.
I will first cover the last bit of useful information the book delivers. They talk about the concept of «lean and mean», which is when companies reduce their budgets by limiting the working experience for their staff. This decision, specially in the software development industry, is the worst thing that you can do to your company. Even though this book was written in 1997, they had the right ideas. Today we see that the most successful companies don’t mind spending a ton of resources in keeping their employees happy, because they know it’s the best long term decision.
Employees at Facebook enjoying life.
«Prosperous and caring – the real goal of an organization.» If you keep your most important clients (your workers) happy, they will make everyone happy, which will translate into better economic results. The last thing the book speaks about is estimates and goals. They must both exist, and they must be different because one gives perspective in a possible date, and the other is a remainder that you must do everything to get the best possible out of a project, resulting in ending right, time-wise speaking.
In conclusion, I don’t consider that The Deadline had the best plot in the world, actually was quite plain, but the real core of this book is the knowledge it offers. I really like learning with a fun little story rather than just receiving theory in the traditional way. We can tell this author was excellent in his research, because most of the lessons he teaches are still relevant to the PM subject in software development. I highly recommend reading this book, and that is all. Hope you enjoyed this breakdown of the most important concepts in my opinion and if you like reading with stories, I will also recommend a book with a similar format: Sophie’s World. This book is a novel, just as The Deadline, but instead of preaching PM stuff, they pack a whole Philosophy course inside the story. The best part is that everything is written in a simple language, so anyone, regardless of age, can read the book.
Link to Sophie’s World: https://www.amazon.com.mx/Sophies-World-Novel-History-Philosophy/dp/0374530718/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_es_MX=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=sohies+world&qid=1590428182&sr=8-1
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